The Validity of Hair Mineral Analysis (HMA)
Hair mineral analysis has been used in forensic medicine for decades.
It is best While hair analysis has gained worldwide recognition as an analytical
tool for receiving information about mineral patterns, drug abuse, and
longterm toxic metal exposure, this analytical procedure has not been accepted
by conventional medicine. In fact, this simple nonevasive and inexpensive
test seems to be a thorn in the eye of traditional medical researchers.
Go to your general practitioner and ask about hair mineral analysis. His
or her answers will provide an interesting insight. It will tell you how
well-informed he/she is regarding international reference material, how
open-minded he/she is, and most of all how logical information is processed.
Every so often articles appear in scientific journals that attempt to
prove that hair mineral analysis is unreliable. In their obviously biased
writings, these "researchers" base statistical assessment on misinformation
and questionable sample taking. No favorable research appears in their
list of references, even though plenty would be available.
That is a shame, and clearly unfair for the following reason:
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we use the same sophisticated instrumentation and method development to
analyse hair, blood, urine or water.
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we use referenced standard materials for testing hair to calibrate instruments,
just like we do for testing blood, urine or water.
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like any other laboratory, we are inspeced by the state to receive our
license. The inspectors check blood, urine or hair laboratory results.
They are certainly not ignoring the procedures or analytical process we
use for hair analysis. Hair analysis data is inspected as critically as
blood or urine data is.
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Our quality control is equal to that of any other quality control used
in the laboratory setting.
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Laboratory personnel has to meet the same qualification as that of any
traditional laboratory.
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Hair analysis is a valid analytical technique that has provided important
answers to puzzling historical questions, including Beethoven’s habits.
Nearly 170 years ago, an admirer grieving the death of Ludwig van Beethoven
snipped a lock of the great composer’s hair for keepsake and kept it in
a locket. It is this strand of hair that is expected to provide key answers.
Did the deaf composer use drugs? Was he suffering from syphilis? Did he
die of arsenic poisoning or was his health affected by mineral deficiencies?
Today’s sophisticated analytical methods can provide these and other answers,
and explanations are often unexpectedly simple. For instance, during Beethoven’s
time, mercurial drugs were used to treat syphilis and arsenic was used
to kill rodents. In minute doses, arsenic was deliberately taken to increase
virility and physical strength. Other toxins such as lead were ingested
by drinking lead-containing water, causing a host of neurological and behavioral
problems such as Beethoven’s feared moodiness and ill-tempered conduct.
The 582 strands of hair recently auctioned off at Sotheby’s are expected
to provide important information regarding Beethoven’s biochemical makeup
and its link to behavior. Researchers William Walsh and Ronald Isaacson
have been studying the relationship between body chemistry and behavior
for decades. They have published an impressive amount of data, including
the relationship between toxic elements and hyperactivity. They recognized
that heavy metal exposure is higher in people prone to violent behavior
and that a specific pattern of toxic exposure and mineral deficiencies
is seen among death-row inmates. The researchers also noticed what they
consider a "genius pattern," characterized by extraordinarily high levels
of copper and sodium but low zinc levels in hair. Individuals with this
type of hair mineral pattern are often highly intelligent and a bit eccentric,
Walsh said. The scientists documented that hair mineral analysis is a valid
test of body mineral concentration when used appropriately. "Hair is a
diary of what is going on in your body," Isaacson said. After decades of
studying chemicals in hair and associating mineral patterns with behavior,
the researchers opened the HRI Pfeiffer Treatment Center seven years ago.
It aims at treating biochemical problems, and a strand of hair often reveals
the cause of psychiatric ailments that did not respond to other, more conventional
treatment.
One of the principal factors in hair analysis is the accessibility of
hair to the external environment. Contamination can occur from air, water,
perspiration, shampoos, dyes and other hair preparations; however, washing
techniques utilized by laboratories alleviate these problems. Hair analysis
is an ideal complement to serum and urine as a diagnostic tool when
the hair sample preparation eliminates environmental contamination.
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If the laboratory of your choice does not use a procedure that properly
cleanses hair samples prior testing, the analytical data can be falsely
elevated due because the environmental contamination has not been properly
removed.
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Because not all laboratories take the time to properly clean and prepare
samples, a comparison of laboratory results will reveal differences.
INVESTIGATE LABORATORIES
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ASK FOR SAMPLE PREPARATION PROCEDURES
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ASK FOR QUALITY CONTROL PROCEDURES
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ASK WHAT QUALITY CONTROLS ARE USED THAT DIRECLY CORRELATE WITH HAIR SAMPLES
If you have more questions, let us know.
Bibliography:
Blaurock-Busch E. Mineral and Trace Element Analysis:
Laboratory and Clinical Application, TMI 1997
Blaurock-Busch E., Confirming the Biochemical Identity of
Identical Twins using Mineral Analysis.
Versieck J., Cornelis R., Trace Elements in
Human Plasma or Serum. CRC Press 1989.
Kaplan AL. Pesce AJ. Clinical Chemistry, 2nd
ed. Mosby Co.
Thomas L, Labor und Diagnose. 4.ed. Med Verlagsges Marburg,
1982.
Valkovic V. Human Hair Vol I & II. CRC Press
1988